Another conundrum for the Bush neo-cons - still refusing to acknowledge the referendum victory of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, the US-backed opposition is struggling to come up with a viable explanation of why the vote was unfair.
The Christian Science Monitor takes a look at various excuses on offer and - surprise, surprise - the number one issue seems to be the use of electronic voting machines!
"Before the referendum, many observers had also questioned the electoral council's decision to use an electronic voting system which had not been used in any previous election, and which they said was vulnerable to manipulation. As well, they decried the revelation that a government agency owned an interest in the company which developed the machines' software and had an employee on the company's board of directors. The government later promised to sell its interest and remove its employee from the board, though it is unclear if they actually did."
How different is this from the looming US elections, where companies developing electronic voting machines have been making huge donations to the GOP, and one CEO even declared it was his "job" to get the President back into the White House?
As long as electronic voting machines are in use, the losers will always be able to cry foul. As I've said before, the only way to ensure the machines are not being manipulated is to release the source code, and you cannot release the source code without opening the door to hackers. So the machines are simply not capable of delivering a 100% trustworthy result.
At least in Venezuela the machines issued a paper trail receipt to the voters - many US States will not.
So what do the anti-Chavez neo-cons do now?
Do they decry the use of electronic voting machines, scaring US voters in the process? Or do they look for some other excuse to attack Chavez? Or - por el amor de Dios! - do they let the Venezuelan people get on with their lives in peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment